Mill no more - Black Starter - Set 10 Reveals #14
The final starter deck reveal is upon us, and it brings an interesting new mechanic to the game! This deck is super anti-mill, so Janemba players will be sad!
Vegeks is now in leader form. We just get this guy and he already has a bunch of different cards. I'ma be real, I had no idea what this guy was before the first reveal, so I'm kinda annoyed we have a leader of this dude and not another character that has been glossed over from the actual canon like Pikkon or Tien! I mean come on, the art already exists! Make it happen Bandai!
Regardless, the leaders skills are really cool, so I'm excited about that. Vegeta: Xeno & Trunks: Xeno has a permanent that only allows you to play "mono-black" battle cards (future proofing?). He then has an activate main that mills 5 to draw 1. When you first see that it sounds insane, but it makes sense with the back side and the other cards that are in the deck. You can awaken when you have 4 or less life or 20+ cards in your drop area (as long as you knock yourself down to 6).
Once awakened, Vegeks, the Unsung Fusion Hero has a very good permanent that allows you to shuffle your drop into your deck (as long as there's at least 20 cards in it) if you deck out, in order to not lose the game. Pretty much killing Janemba completely. Some would say Cooler too, but I'd argue that mill is just a secondary win con in Cooler, so it won't matter much. The question is, will this guy get played enough to push Janemba out of the game completely? There are a few cards that negate leaders non keyword skills. If you could figure out how to do that and then mill them that would be hilarious!
He also has an activate main to mill 5 again, and draw a card, then give your black unison card double strike. This works really well with the Unison card we're showing off next because he can become a Dual Attack Double Strike monster.
The second Black Unison card of set 10 is more conventional. SS Gotenks, Fusion of Friendship has an auto that allows you to play him if you mill him from your deck, meaning it's better off going to your drop than being drawn, which is the case for a lot of the cards in today's reveal. If he is milled, he comes out with one counter on him, which is nice.
His first unison skill is a +2 which gives your unison card +10k power to make it 15k in exchange for dropping a card from your hand.
His second skill is -4, and this is where the synergy with the leader coms in. He get's +20k and Dual attack for the turn, making him a 25k Dual Attack Double Striker using your leader skill. Pretty strong!
This card and the next two cards all have the same auto as the Gotenks that puts them into play when they are milled. Time Agent Vegeta guy has the Unique keyword so only one of them will be coming out if you mill more than that. He then has an activate battle that allows you to warp one of your opponent's 3 cost or less battle cards for 2 energy. Pretty good since you can do it during battle, but not amazing. I guess black's version of arrival if you can mill it during battle with a card like Majin Buu's Human Extinction Attack.
Time Agent Trunks is the second of 3 battle cards in the starter deck. This guy is a self awakener that is also a blocker. He can add one card to life from hand if you feel it's needed. He's also Unique like the vegeta, so you can only play one if you mill more than one.
The final card of this reveal is Supreme Kai of Time, Guardian of Spacetime. What a mouthful. She is a 10k combo if you have less than 5 cards in hand. Decent for decks like Black Buu that always have a low hand size. She also gets played from the drop like the other cards above, but she isn't Unique so you can flood the board with her to combo for defence or pressure.
All in all I think this is a very solid starter deck, and will probably be the pick of the bunch in a sealed format. Can't wait to see what else Bandai have up their sleeve! Bring on the Pilaf leader :P
~ Sam Russell
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